Oral history interview with Patricia Lee conducted by Stefani Evans and Claytee White on September 19, 2023 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Lee begins the interview by discussing her childhood in Daegu, South Korea, born to a Black American father and a Korean mother. Patricia Lee arrived in the United States with her parents as a young child when the U.S. Air Force transferred her father to Vandenburg Air Force Base in California. Lee was seven when her father left. With her mother speaking no English, Lee was responsible for her family's food stamps and social services even as they endured serial evictions and homelessness that included a stay in a shelter for abused women. In middle school, Upward Bound was Lee's "game-changer." As she had in high school, Lee immersed herself in student life and academics at the University of Southern California, while also working several jobs. After graduation, she worked at the California Science Center Museum before entering law school at George Washington University. She graduated in May 2002, shortly after the legal profession had lost several top law firms that had been headquartered in New York City's Twin Towers. When she accepted an offer from Las Vegas firm Hutchison & Steffen, she became the firm's first woman attorney and first attorney of color; seven years later, she became the firm's first woman partner and first partner of color. Lee was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Nevada in November 2022 by Governor Steve Sisolak.
The Charley Henchis Papers (approximately 1945-1987) document the career of international cabaret show producer Charley Henchis and the shows he produced in Las Vegas, Nevada and Beirut, Lebanon. Materials include Henchis' business files which includes correspondence, files on specialty acts, photographs, and press about Henchis. Shows represented in this collection includes La Parisienne which was performed at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas in 1960 before moving to Casino du Liban in Beirut. Other shows represented in this collection that were produced for Casino du Liban includes Mais Oui, S'il Vous Plait, Flash!, and Hello!. Additional materials include press and publicity files, music arrangements and scores, recordings of musical numbers used for the productions, and film footage of shows and production reels. Also included is film footage of the Charley Ballet, Henchis' dance troupe who were featured in his shows.
The Felicia Campbell Papers (approximately 1962-2020) contains material documenting the life and work of long-time UNLV English professor, Felicia Campbell. Materials include Campbell's personal and professional papers including correspondence, scholarly journals featuring her published articles, article drafts, newspaper clippings, photographs, personal diaries, and awards. Also included are materials documenting Campbell's discrimination lawsuit against UNLV in the 1970s regarding equal pay for tenured female faculty.
Julia Lynn Morris and James Stanford Papers (approximately 1990-2024) contain materials from Lynn and James's varied careers in Las Vegas, Nevada. The collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, videos, photographs, and ephemera from the Las Vegas arts scene, the Contemporary Arts Collective, Arts Factory, and other projects related to the couple.
The Larry Fotine Music Collection (approximately 1940-2017) contains the complete library of composer, jazz band leader, and composer for television Larry Fotine. Materials include manuscript scores, printed sheet music of works by Fotine, ASCAP agreements and contracts, photographs, recordings (both published recordings and archival recordings), correspondence, and books by Fotine, and memorabilia. Fotine directed his own bands beginning in the 1930s, with many million-plus seller recordings. He composed over 300 songs, including collaboration with Duke Ellington (“I Ain’t Got Nothin’ but the Blues”), and arranged music for Sammy Kaye’s band (1940-1945), Blue Barron and Art Mooney (1945-1947), and Lawrence Welk (1958-1960). Fotine composed music for the "Buttons and Rusty" cartoon shows at the end of his career in the 1980s. There is an item-level inventory available upon request.
The collection is comprised of architectural drawings (1952-1997) completed by American architect, Ethan Jennings Jr. and/or his architectural firm, Ethan Jennings Jr., AIA, CSI and includes Jenning's work from the firm of John Badgley, AIA, where Ethan Jennings Jr. worked in Southern California during the 1950s, as well as work Jenning's completed with Americo Inc., and Tolosa Group. The collection contains 217 sets of drawings, 6 boxes of project records, and 8 flat files of oversized material from over 200 different projects primarily located in California with some projects located in the Las Vegas area. The materials feature hand-drawn architectural drawings, ranging from preliminary sketches to construction documents. The drawings also contain work from consultants, engineers, and other architects who collaborated on the development of the various projects. The drawings include: commercial, industrial, professional, civic, residential, and religious buildings of varying scales, such as libraries, apartments, warehouses, office developments, schools, military buildings, churches, and custom single-family homes located throughout California and Las Vegas. The drawings also include a number of additions, remodels, and renovations. The collection also contains project records like structural calculations and drawings, project manuals and specifications, bid documents, and professional correspondence.
Collection contains nineteen real estate appraisal reports created by John R. Moser from Las Vegas and rural Southern Nevada (Lincoln and Nye counties) from approximately 1957 to 1972. The reports contain information on the market values of the properties and contextual information explaining the appraisals. This collection also contains photographs and photographic negatives depicting properties, and photographic slides of desert flora and landscapes around Nevada and Idaho such as Groom Mountain Range, White Bird Canyon, Salmon River Valley, Clover Valley, and Ruby Mountains.
The Marc Weiswasser Papers are comprised of materials from approximately 1976 to 2002 documenting Marc Weiswasser's career in the Las Vegas, Nevada gaming industry. The collection includes instructional guides and handbooks for table game dealers, employee handbooks and newsletters from the Flamingo Hilton and MGM Grand Las Vegas materials, as well as interviews and articles about Marc Weiswasser. The collection also includes newspaper clippings about the gaming industry and video recordings from the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming. There are also reports from the Nevada Gaming Control Board regarding Regulation 6A, which deals with cash transactions prohibitions, reporting, and record keeping. The collection also includes a variety materials about the Casino Managamenet Association (CMA) including a promotional video, conference fliers, invitations, photographs from various CMA events, and educational materials related to casino operations.
The Benedict Family Papers materials date from roughly 1905-1998 and are comprised of correspondence and letters (1969-1971) written to Howard Hughes by the public. The collection also contains correspondence written to Robert Maheu, former chief executive of Nevada operations for Howard Hughes. The collection also includes a variety of casino and gambling related product catalogs, gaming guides for Las Vegas casinos, and of research papers and reports primarily relating to sports betting and cheating.
The J. A. Tiberti Construction Records include material documenting construction work performed throughout Las Vegas, Nevada between 1950 and 2011 including bid packages, specifications, contracts, correspondence, company records, legal documents, and architectural plans.